Was looking for a setup that would still have a "novice constable" pipeline, rather than (if you want people rolling into the federal roles to have meaningful time on the road) only having the option of trying to lure $100k-$120k/year constables out of their at least somewhat settled life.
Is that a universal issue, or a square peg problem driven by, e.g., career management practices that treat that sort of work as a baseline rather than a niche? Would treating policing out in the weeds, past a certain early point in a career, as a separate stream be a fix?
until large amounts, there are plenty of individuals from these communities that answer the call- but not enough to float them, of First Nations people want to be police and nurses and social workers and take care of their communities there is no real pipeline or solution that will work-it’s all a bandaid.
The statistics and what the officers there are exposed to defy compensation- some things like “fly in models” etc will extend the life of getting people to go- but the solution has to be homegrown.
FN police services will always be a farm team for larger forces in Desirable places- there are outliers but the movement out of those forces speaks for themselves. It’s predominately non-FN people that do 4-8 years before lateraling elsewhere.
The RCMP FN contracts are no different- just instead of lateralling out they expect to be posted out to something that lets them decompress.
When FN services take off in full and they have local people doing their work- it will have an epidemic of systemic issues and health concerns for those officers, but that will have to be sorted out by those communities and the government.
I’ve worked with several FN law enforcement agencies and none of them have structured programs to deal with the health and wellness of their officers. Some of whom I worry quite a bit about- but the structures just don’t exist. That will be the new epidemic. The next easily seen issue that shocks all the leadership and governments even though it’s entirely observable now.
The solutions to all of this are solutions that do not try and build on the skeletons of these old band aid solutions. They have to be new things.
Federal policing needs to be its own thing. With its own heavy mentorship on the basics of cop work if they hire off the street. I think mostly experienced officers will go looking for the jobs so it will be a minor-ish issue.
FN policing has to mature into its own thing. The provinces and communities need to take ownership over police forces.
Law enforcement has to accept that tiered enforcement is here to stay and that police officers have priced themselves out of being the only option.
The federal procurement system and the treasury board are incompatible with policing. Policing has a need to meet emergent and new issues in a timely fashion with flexibility. The federal government is not set up to allow that.
So members with families pay high rent for housing with poor access to clean water, no opportunities for their spouses, poor education for their children all while working on the most violent communities in Canada- and that violence is across the street in their neighbourhood, they are working 60 hours a week- sure they make overtime- but their careers are stunted because they only have 60% of the officers they are allotted so they can’t go on course, can’t get on a mentorship, leave is an issue- And that amount of officers is already 20-40% lower than it needs to be by work volume. (If they were full staffed)
When people escape to provincial and federal positions they do not return to these places- not because they are lazy. But because they are horrible for their health.
I’ve done double digits of postings in these places across the country. Some are better than others- but no one in them can do their whole career. Once they get out- they would be crazy to put their families back through it.
I adore these communities and the First Nations people for their resiliency in what they face having been thrown away by the government, only to have the money canon turned on them every few years. They are good people. So are the peace officers there trying to make a difference- but they are fighting uphill in these places. Left behind by the courts and the government. Their leadership are screaming for help constantly. 99.5% of the people are just doing their work and getting by- it’s the same individuals committing horrific acts over and over- and a white judge from the city telling the community that they can’t put them in jail because of a court decision- even though the community is crying out for help.
I don’t believe leaving territorial and FN policing as a side hustle for the new federal service would work. It might for a bit but it would grind to a halt
rant over!
